






The Particular Laws 



State Societies of the Cincinnati 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



Admission to Membership. 



Collated by the Secretary-General 

FOR 

The General Society of Cincinnati. 



Triennial General Meeting, Boston, Mass., May 17, 1893. 




The Particular Laws 



State Societies of the Cincinnati 



ON THE SUBJECT OF 



Admission to Membership. 



Collated by the Secretary-General 



The General Society of Cincinnati. 



Triennial General Meeting, Boston, Mass., May 17, 1893. 



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Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THK 

STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Extract from its By-Laws and Regulations as Amended 

4TH July, 1890. 



BY-LAWS. 

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VL Every person who may be desirious of becoming a 
member of the Society, and who shall come within the terms of 
the original general institution, shall make his application to the 
Standing Committee in writing ; who shall advise thereon, and 
report their opinion to the Society; but no one shall be per- 
mitted to be a candidate under the age of twenty-one years. 

VI L Each person who shall be admitted a member in right 
of succession to a deceased member, or who shall become a 
member by virtue of any rule now existing or which may here- 
after be established, shall make and subscribe the following decla- 
ration, in the presence of the Society: 

I^ , having been admitted a member of the Society 

of the Cincinnati within the State of Massachusetts, as the true 

successor of , late a member of this Society, and my 

deceased (father or brother, as the case may be) do solemnly 
promise and engage that I will duly conform to all the regula- 
tions established from time to time for the government of said 
Society, as far as they shall have for their basis the principles of 
the original institution. 

In testimony whereof, I hereto subscribe my name, and 
pledge my sacred honor. 



VIII. ^^ ^ ^^ ^^ * 

IX. Any person making application to become a member 
of the Society, in conformity with the the Rule recommended at 
the Triennial Meeting of the General Society of the Cincinnati, 
held at Baltimore, in May, 1854, and adopted by this Society 
at their annual meeting in July following, may be admitted, 
upon subscribing the usual declaration and upon condition of 
the payment of the sum of seven hundred ($700.00) dollars to 
the Treasurer of the Society, as a contribution to the permanent 
fund, and shall thereby be entitled to all the rights and privi- 
leges of an original member. 

X. The succession and admission to membership of this 
Society shall descend to the heir male, unless, for satisfactory 
reasons, another be chosen ; in which case the membership shall 
extend to the life only of the person so elected, and, at his 
decease, the then existing heir male of the original member shall 
be the person first to be considered in a new election. 

XI. In case the person so admitted is in active service in 
the Army or Navy of the United States, and is unable to attend 
the regular meeting of the Society next following his admission, 
he may make and subscribe the declaration before a notary 
public, or justice of peace, and transmit the same to the Secretary 
to be affixed to the record book of the Society. 

XII. A failure on the part of any eligible person to apply 
for admission within a reasonable time after being informed of 
the existence of his claim, may be interpreted as a waiver thereof. 

XIII. Since a waiver can, in any case, be regarded only as 
the renunciation of a claim, not as the transfer of a right, none 
can be recognized which would impair the subsequent elegibility 
of a minor. 

XIV. Priority of claim through descendants through a female 
line shall be construed according to the same rules which govern 
priority in the male line ; namely those of primo-gcnittirc accord- 
ing to the common law, so far as applicable. 



RULES REGARDING HONORARY MEMBERS. 

Voted — That in the election of honorary members, it is dis- 
tinctly understood by the Society, that such election does not 
confer the right of an original member, or give an honorary mem- 
ber any title to any portion of the funds, nor are they entitled to 
vote, or eligible to any ofifiice. 

Voted — That the admission of honorary members of the Cin- 
cinnati, for life only, shall be confined to those who shall be emi- 
nent lineal descendants or representatives of those who were 
distinguished by high military or civil virtues and services in the 
Revolutionary War. 

Voted — That no person be admitted an honorary member of 
the Society except upon the recommendation of the Standing 
Committee. 



Society of the Cincinnati 



STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND 

PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. 



Extract from its By-Laws as adopted 4TH July, 1791, and 
subsequently amended. 







BY-LAWS : 








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XV. All applications for admission to membership in the 
Society shall be addressed b)^ the applicant in writing to and ex- 
amined by the "Standing Committee," the applicant stating clearly 
and fully his claim. 

The committee shall examine the same, and after demanding 
such proof as it thinks proper, shall advise thereon and report its 
opinion in writing to the Society ; none, however, but males of the 
age of twenty-one and upwards shall be admitted to membership. 

XVI. No person shall be admitted a member of the Society 
(whatever may be his relationship to an original or other member 
of the Cincinnati) unless he be of good moral character and repu- 
tation, and be, in the language of the "General Institution," by 
the Society "judged worthy of becoming its supporter and 
member." 

XVII. Original members of the Cincinnati under the "Gen- 
eral Institution," capable of transmitting hereditary membership, 
are defined to be those duly qualified ofificers of the American and 
French Armies, under His Excellency, General George Washington 
as Commander-in-Chief, and of the American and French Navies 
who subscribed the " General Institution " under the provisions 



therein contained, either vvliile with these armies or navies in the 
year 1783, or within six months after the final disbandment of the 
American Army on the twentieth, day of June, in the year seven- 
teen hundred and eighty-four, extraordinary cases excepted, and 
including as eligible for services during the American War of 
Independence, between the nineteenth day of April, in the year 
seventeen hundred and seventy-five, and the third day of Decem- 
ber, in the year seventeen hundred and eighty-three. 

First — The Commissioned Ofificers of the regular American Army 
who resigned with honor after three years' service in the 
capacity of Commissioned Officers. 

Where, however, all or a portion of such three years' 
service was performed as a Commissioned Officer in the Rhode 
Island " Brigade of State Troops," specially and exceptionally 
raised for considerable periods of service and taken on the Con- 
tinental Establishment, such portion of service is construed as 
intended to be embraced in the designated period,* 

Second— T\\& Commissioned Officers of the Regular Continental 
Army who were deranged by the resolutions of Congress upon 
the several reforms of the army. 

Third — The Commissioned Officers of the regular Continental 
Army who continued in service to the end of the war.f 

FourtJi — The eldest male posterity, or in the failure thereof, the 
collateral descendants respectively, of such Commissioned Offi- 
cers of the American Army or Navy as died in the service. 

XVIII. The admission of "hereditary" members shall be 
confined to the eldest male posterity of original members of this 
Society, and in failure thereof the collateral branches who may be 
judged worthy of becoming its supporters and members ; and in 
like manner to the male descendants (including collateral branches) 
of such Commissioned Officers of the regular Continental Army or 
Navy as may have been entitled, under the definition in the pre- 
ceding Rule XVII, to admission, but who failed to avail them- 

*This rule was adopted in the Rhode Island Society as early as 4th of July, 1786, in conformity 
with the opinion expressed by the General Society on the 13th of May, 1784. 

tOfficially declared to be on 19th of April, 1783, per General Orders, dated Army Headquarters, 
Newburgh, iSth of April, 1783. 

Final evacuation of Atlantic posts, on the 3d of December, 1783, when Governor's Island, New 
York Harbor, was formally relinquished. 



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sel\'es thereof within the time prescribed by the " General Insti- 
tution ; " and in Hke manner to the male collateral descendant of 
any regular Continental Officer who died in the service without 
leaving direct issue : Provided, however, that when there shall be 
no descendants in the direct male line, and there shall be male 
descendants of the officer through a female line, the Society shall 
determine which of such male descendants deriving inheritance 
through intervening female descendants, shall be admitted to he- 
reditary membership as the representative of his propositus: And, 
Provided, further, that Avhen admission is claimed in the first 
instance in right of the services of a Continental Officer who never 
became a member, such officer must have been credited to the 
Continental contingent of this State or of one whose Society is 
extinct, or the applicant himself must be domiciled in Rhode 
Island. 

Persons entitled to hereditary membership in State Societies 
of the Cincinnati which may have been dissolved, may be ad- 
mitted into this Society at any " annual " meeting upon such 
terms as to contribution to the Society's " permanent fund," and 
otherwise as it may from time to time, by resolution, think 
proper to prescribe. Such admission, however, shall only be by 
ballot, and one negative vote shall exclude. 

In like manner any one domiciled in Rhode Island who may 
be hereditarily entitled to membership in another State Society, 
may be admitted into this Society on said terms, with consent 
of said State Society, provided his place in such Society has not 
been filled or he excluded for cause. 

XIX. In case of the declination or waiver of a person, 
upon whom devolves the succession, to accept hereditary mem- 
bership or his omission, on reasonable notice, to avail himself of 
it, or in case of resolution of the Society to exclude him for un- 
worthiness, it may determine which, if any, of the other de- 
scendants of the original member in the elder male line according 
to priority of claim shall succeed to the representation : Provided 
hozvever, if the next heir male of the person regularly entitled to 
succession be a minor, the eligibility to membership being vested 



in him, the use thereof shall remain in abeyance until such dis- 
ability cease, preference always being given to his claim. The 
Society may however exclude him for any of the foregoing reasons 
or under unusual circumstances. 

XX. Only one person at a time shall be competent to suc- 
ceed to hereditary membership on the decease of an actual member, 
or in right of a Commissioned Officer of the regular Continental 
Army or Navy who may have been entitled to original member- 
ship, and no person, (other than actual hereditary members in 
existing State Societies of the Cincinnati,) shall be admitted to 
membership, either hereditary or honorary, except at an "annual" 
meeting and then only by ballot. One negative vote shall be 
sufficient to exclude any such candidate. 

XXI. Any actual, hereditary member in any other State 
Society of the Cincinnati who shall remove into and become domi- 
ciled in the State of Rhode Island may, on his application for 
transfer, be received into this Society as an actual member by a 
majority vote, at either a special or "annual meeting, provided 
the transfer is acceptable to his own State Society and provided 
he shall pay into the " permanent fund " of this Society the 
same sum as may be, at the time, required from applicants admit- 
ted to hereditary membership from extinct State Societies. 

Members in other State Societies shall always be privileged to 
attend and shall be welcomed at the meetings of this Society and 
noted as present, and be entitled to participate in all its delibera- 
tions and assemblages but not to vote as to or enjoy relief from 
its permanent fund. 

XXII. The admission of honorary members of the Cincinnati, 
for life only, shall be confined : 

First — To those who shall be eminent lineal descendants or repre- 
sentatives of those who were distinguished by high military 
or civil virtues and services in the cause of American Inde- 
pendence during the Revolutionary War. 



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Second — To the lineal descendants or representatives of such former 
honorary members of the Cincinnati as may be eminent for 
their abilities and patriotism, and who shall be domiciled in 
the State of Rhode Island : Provided, always, that the num- 
ber of honorary members shall not exceed a ratio of one to 
four of the actual hereditary members of this Society and 
provided further that no person shall be admitted an honorary 
member except upon recommendation of the " Standing Com- 
mittee." 

By resolution of this Society, the Contribution to the permanent fund required from the proper 
descendant of a qualified Revolutionary officer who was not an original member, is fixed at five 
hundred dollars. 



Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

STATE OF NEW YORK. 



Extract from its By-Laws as Adopted, 4Th July, 1890. 







BY-LAWS : 








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IX. Every person desirous of becoming a member of the 
Society, shall make application, in writing, to the Standing Com- 
mittee, setting forth distinctly and clearly his claim to be admitted. 
The Committee shall advise thereon, and may demand any proof 
which they may deem requisite in support of such claim, and any 
testimonial with respect to the character and standing of the ap- 
licant, and they shall report, in writing, the facts of the case 
together with their opinion to the Society. No person shall be 
admitted as a member unless he shall be twenty-one years of age, 
nor unless his claim and application for admission shall have been 
before the Standing Committee prior to the day of the meeting 
on which he may be voted for as a member. 

Section i. No person shall be admitted a member of the 
Society (whatever may be his relation to an original or other 
member of the Society) unless he be of good moral character and 
reputation, and be (in the language of the original Institution) 
"judged worthy of becoming its supporter and member." 

Section 2. Eligibility to membership in succession, devolving 
upon a minor, shall be deemed vested in such minor, but the use 
thereof shall remain in abeyance until the disability cease or be 
removed. 



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Section 3. Lineal succession to membership shall be, according 
to the rules of inheritance at the common law " the eldest male 
posterity, (of the Original Member) and in failure thereof the col- 
lateral branches who may be judged worthy of becoming its sup- 
porters and members." In cases of representation or succession 
through females, the eldest branch shall be preferred to the younger. 
The Ofificer of the Army or Navy of the Revolution, who was an 
Original Member, shall be deemed and taken as the ''propositus" 
from whom succession shall be derived. 

Section 4. The eldest male descendant, of full age, of any 
Original Member of any of the State Societies which have been 
dissolved, and also the eldest male descendant if residing in the 
State of New York, of any Original Member of any State Society, 
may be admitted into this Society (if judged worthy) upon the 
payment into the Treasury of a sum equal to one month's pay of 
the Original Member from whom the applicant claims descent, in 
the Continental Service according to the rank of such Original 
Member, at the time he signed the roll of the Society of which 
he was a member, together with legal interest thereon computed 
from the Society's organization to the time of such admission, 
provided that such sum shall in no case be less than five hundred 
dollars, unless by special order of this Society. 

Section 5. No person shall be elected a member of this Society 
whose ancestor adhered to, or took protection from the Enemy 
during the war of the Revolution. 

X. No person shall be elected a member of the Society, 
except at an Annual Meeting, and no person shall be elected an 
Honorary Member without having been proposed at the immedi- 
ately preceding Annual Meeting, and an entry of the fact being 
made upon the minutes, and recommended by the Standing Com- 
mittee. 



Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY. 



RULES 
For the Admission of Members. 



1. Where there are descendants of an Original Member in the 
male line, the right of membership belongs to the heir of the 
eldest line ; but where the male line is extinct, the Society may 
determine which of the female line shall have the representation ; 
and where there are no lineal descendants of an Original Member, 
a descendant of a brother or sister of the original member may 
succeed to the representation. Upon the death of a member, if 
the person upon whom devolves the succession, being of full age, 
shall fail to apply for his membership within two years, he shall 
be notified by the Secretary at his last known place of residence 
(a copy of this rule accompanying such notification,) and if within 
a year thereafter he declines or omits to make said application, 
the right of succession may, at the option of the Society, be 
offered to his next heir male ; and if he also declines or omits to 
avail himself of the offer within a year, the Society may determine 
which, if any, of the other descendants of the Original Member 
shall succeed to the representation: Provided, however, If the 
next heir male of the person regularly entitled to succession be a 
minor, the eligibility to membership being vested in him, this rule 
shall remain in abeyance until such disability cease. 

2. Hereafter all officers of the army or navy of the Revolution, 
whose records are unsullied, shall be entitled to representation in 
this State Society ; but such representation shall be upon the con- 
ditions that each applicant furnish satisfactory evidence of his 



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good character and moral worth and shall pay into the treasury of 
the Society the sum of five hundred dollars. 

3. In determining the succession of such members as shall 
make application for admission under the preceding (2d) rule, the 
same ruling will apply as in the case of representation of original 
members. 

4. Any person claiming membership shall make written appli- 
cation to the Standing Committee at or before a regular annual 
meeting, stating clearly his claim. The Committee shall examine 
the same, and after demanding such proof as they think proper 
in its support, shall report to the Society their opinion in writing. 
The Society always reserving to itself the right to reject and pass 
over any application where it is deemed best for its interests to 
do so, whether for unworthiness on the part of the applicant or 
other cause. 

5. No elections for members shall be held except at regular 
annual meetings. Honorary members, or those applying under 
the provisions of the second rule above, shall be proposed at an 
annual meeting previous to that at which they are to be balloted 
for. All elections shall be by ballot, and five negative votes shall 
be considered as a rejection of any candidate. 

6. None but males of full age shall be admitted to member- 
ship, but eligibility to membership in succession devolving upon 
a minor, shall be deemed vested in such minor, and the use thereof 
shall remain in abeyance until the disability cease or be removed 
as provided for in the first rule. 



Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



Extract from its By-Laws as Adopted 4TH July, 1891. 



APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP. 

XIII. All applications for admission to membership in the 
Society shall be addressed to the Standing Committee, but every 
application shall lie over, to be examined at a future meeting of 
the Committee, which meeting shall have been prior to the day 
on which the applicant may be voted for as a member. 

The Committee shall report the result of said examination to 
the Society at its next Stated Meeting, and two-thirds of the 
members present shall be necessary to an election. 

ADMISSION OF MEMBERS. 

XIV. Section I. No person shall be admitted as a member 
unless he shall be twenty-one years of age. 

Section 2. No person shall be admitted a member of the 
Society (whatever may be his relation to an original or other 
member of the Society), unless he be of good moral character and 
reputation, and be (in the language of the original Institution) 
by the Society " judged worthy of becoming its supporter and 
member." 

Section 3. No application for membership in any right, whether 
as a successor upon the death of a present member, or upon a 
new application, shall be brought before or considered by the 
Standing Committee, unless accompanied by the sworn statement 
of the person seeking membership of the truth of such applica- 
tion and of all the facts therein contained. 



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MEMBERS BY TRANSFER. 

XV. SiXtuyn i. This Society will not receive into member- 
ship by transfer any member of any State Society unless his 
application is accompanied by an afifidavit that he is a member 
of right within the stipulations of the Original Institution of the 
Order. 

Section 2. He must submit to the Standing Committee the 
rules under which members are admitted unto the State Society 
of which he is a member, stating under which rule he has been 
admitted, and a certificate from the Secretary of said State Society 
that he is a member in good standing. 

HONORARY MEMBERS. 

XVI. Section I. Every candidate for honorary membership 
shall be proposed by two members, and, in the election of honorary 
members, the votes of four-fifths of the members present shall be 
necessary to an election : Provided, always, that the number in 
this State " does not exceed a ratio of one to four of the of^cers 
or their descendants." And provided, all such proposals for mem- 
bership shall be considered and approved at any previous meeting 
of the Standing Committee. 

Section 2. No person is now or shall hereafter be considered 
an honorary member of this Society unless he shall within two 
years after notification of his election have signified to the Society 
his acceptance of membership. And that a copy of this section 
be transmitted with the notification of election of any honorary 
member. 

Sectioji 3. No person shall be elected an honorary member 
without having been openly proposed as such, at the preceding 
Annual Meeting, and a note of the fact being made upon the 
minutes. 



PRINCIPLES GOVERNING 

THE 

SOCIETY OF THE CINCINSATI IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLfANIA 

IN THE 

ADIVIISSION OK rvIElVEBERS 

"As Shown by the Minutes of the Society" to July 4, 1891, 

AND Published by Order of the Society for 

the Use of its Members. 



Only persons representing (as set forth in the Institution) 
Original Members of the Society, or Officers of the Continental 
Line who died in the Sevice, are eligible.* 

Each Original Member can have but one representative. 

Each Original Member should be represented ; therefore where 
the right to represent several Original Members would otherwise 
merge in one person, the Society prefers to keep these rights sepa- 
rate, and to admit a distinct representative in each right, where it 
can be done in accordance with the Institution. 

Where an Original Member failed to contribute to the Treasury 
of the Society as directed by the Institution, his representative, 
when admitted to membership, must make good the amount due 
by the Original Member, together with interest at the rate of six 
per centum per annum from the time the original contribution was 
due to the date of the representative's admission to the Society, 
or pay a sum of money to be named by the Society. 

Members of other State Societies of the Cincinnati seeking to 
associate themselves, by transfer, with the State Society of 

* On January 27, 1886, a Committee of this Society reported that there was no derogation to the 
rights of the descendants of Original Members by granting the privilege of admission to the proper 
lineal descendants or representatives of officers who might have been Original Members but who 
omitted to become so. 

The report was adopted and also a rule submitted by the Committee declaring that the proper 
lineal or collateral descendants of all Officers of the Army of the Pennsylvania Line or Navy of the 
Revolution shall be entitled to admission '"upon due application and furnishing satisfactory evidence 
of the right to membership of his ancestor, of pedigree, and of good character and moral worth and 
payment of five hundred dollars into the treasury of the Society." 

This rule was rescinded July 4, i8gi. 



Pennsylvania, are required to bring themselves within the inter- 
pretation of the Institution as set set forth in these principles. 

When a resident of Pennsylvania desires to be admitted to the 
State Society of Pennsylvania to represent an Original Member of 
another State Society, he must first be admitted to such State 
Society and then transferred. 



Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

STATE OF MARYLAND. 



Rules for the Admission of Members Adopted 
22D February, i8q2. 



I. Every application for membership must be in writing, and 
signed by the apphcant, and must be presented by a member of 
this State Society, who shall sign his name thereto as the proposer 
of the applicant. 

II. The application shall state applicant's profession or calling, 
his place of residence, his descent from the revolutionary officer 
whom he claims to represent, and the name and rank of that 
officer. 

III. No person shall be eligible for membership who is under 
twenty-one years of age, or who cannot give to the Society satis- 
factory proof that he is a gentleman of honor and good repute in 
all respects, v/orthy of becoming one of its supporters and members. 

IV. The persons eligible for membership in this Society are : 
All of the male posterity of a revolutionary officer who was, or 
was entitled to be, an Original Member of the Maryland State 
Society of the Cincinnati, or was a member in good standing of 
any State Society now extinct; and in failure of such male pos- 
terity any of the collateral branches ; provided that there shall 
never be elected more than one member of the Society at one 
time representing the same revolutionary officer ; provided further 
that the status of members elected previous to the passage of this 
amended rule, and of the propositus whom they represent, be in 
no wise affected thereby. 

V. Subject always to the provisions of Article 3, the follow- 
ing preferences shall be observed in considering applications : 

1. Direct descendants shall be preferred to collaterals. 

2. Among direct descendants the male line is to be preferred 
to the female line. 



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^. Among collaterals the nearest in blood to the propositus. 
4. Among applicants equally entitled in other respects the 
older shall be preferred to the younger. 

VI. The Society reserves to itself the right to reject 
any application, whether from a direct descendant or collat- 
eral, whenever it may deem it for its interest to do so. 

VII. Every application shall be presented at a meeting 
and referred to the Committee on Admissions to be reported 
and voted upon at a snbsequent meeting, and no applicant 
shall be elected at the meeting when his application is first 
presented. 

VIII. Every election of a candidate for admission shall be 
by ballot. Two black balls in ten or a less number than ten, 
and an adverse vote of one-fifth of the whole vote cast in a 
larger number than ten, shall exclude the candidate. Every 
member is bound in honor not to disclose outside of the 
Society whether he or any other member voted for or against 
the candidate. 

IX. A member elected as the representative, whether 
direct or collateral, of an Original Member, who qualified as 
such by contributing one month's pay to the Maryland State 
Society of the Cincinnati, shall pay an admission fee of thirty 
dollars, and a member elected as the representative of an 
officer who was not an Original Member, or did not so 
qualify, shall pay an admission fee of one hundred dollars. 

And every member shall purchase from the Secretary a 
Diploma or Certificate of Membership, and pay for the same 
the sum of seven dollars. 

X. Any member who has not qualified by payment of 
admission fee and for diploma within one year after notice 
of his election, shall be deemed to have forfeited his election. 

XI. Subject to Rule 3. — Any member of any existing 
State Society of the Cincinnati may be transferred to this 
Society by making an application in writing, accompanied by 
a certificate from the Secretary of his own State Society 
that he is a member thereof in good standing. 



Society of the Cincinnati 

IN THE 

STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Extract from its By-Laws as Adopted 5TI1 July, 1886. 







BY-LAWS. 






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XV [I. All lineal male descendants, through the males of 
such persons as now are, have been, or may hereafter become 
members of this Society, and the eldest lineal male descendant 
through the eldest male line of officers of the Continental 
Army, shall be eligible as members of this Society. No per- 
son, however, shall be admitted to membership unless he be a 
resident of this State, except he reside in a State where there 
is no State Society, and claim through an officer of the South 
Carolina line, or through an officer of the line of a State in 
which no State Society exists. Provided that hereafter no 
person shall be admitted a member in right of an officer whose 
ancestor was never a member of the Cincinnati, except on the 
payment of fifty dollars if his claim be through an officer of the 
South Carolina line ; and of one hundred dollars of his claim be 
based upon his representation of an officer of any other line. 
And provided further that whenever there shall be no lineal 
descendants through the males, the eldest lineal descendant 
through the eldest daughter having descendants shall be 
entitled in preference over collateral branches, and whenever 
there shall be no lineal descendants, the eldest lineal descend- 
ant through the eldest collateral male branch, shall be entitled. 

XVIIL No persons shall be elected a member of the 
Society except by ballot at a regular meeting, by a majority 
of at least three-fourths of the members present; no person 
shall be balloted for who has not been proposed at a pre- 
vious regular general meeting of the Society, and the most 
sacred regard to secrecy shall be observed by the members 
on the occasion, that if the candidate should prove unsuccess- 
ful, the knowledge of his misfortune shall never transpire. 



lL2S™ °'' CONGRESS 

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